Chapter 19 The Barrier
T he name is an instant switch.
The shadows shrink away, sinking back into their original spots as my power coils, returning to me.
Our gazes return, simultaneously, but when I begin to pull away, Sai only holds onto my hand tighter.
I blink and the room disappears, wind whips the strands of hair framing my face and blaring sunlight causes me to squint.
Slowly, my vision clears and my senses return. I pull my hand from Sai and step back, turning to assess the new surroundings when my sight lands upon a familiar building with the demon stood beside it, annoyance lingering on his face as he stares at us.
“Why are we at 'Purgatory'?” I ask, staring up at the towering structure. Noting the blaring music even with the sun at its peak in the sky.
No one answers. Instead, Sai and Julien begin moving towards the club.
I spend a moment surveying the sight before me, remembering how close ‘Purgatory’ is to the barrier, remembering why I hadn’t returned since the last time, wondering if I started running how far I’d get…
“Move.”
My gaze flashes towards him. His stoic expression and dark, empty gaze boring into mine even from this distance. My jaw grinds at the tone of his voice, but I clench my fists and comply.
The bouncers don’t even glance at the enforcers, if anything, they actively avoid their gaze as we enter. If they try to look at me, I wouldn’t know, because I’m blocked in by Julien and Sai on either side of me.
Of course he leads the way.
I’m instantly swept into the aroma of the club. Unlike 'The Inferno', ‘Purgatory’ never closes, offering a variety of services to indulge the wealthiest and most powerful of our world, even things considered inhumane and illegal.
As we enter the first floor, we are greeted by a mass of creatures semi-dressed, some completely naked, a melody of sighs and moans mixing with the wailing music.
I catch glimpses but my towering guards conceal most of the scene, although that doesn’t stop my tendrils greedily seeping out, sweeping up the emotions and indulging. I encourage it to feed, eager to have as much strength as possible for the pain I know is soon to come, the tingling sensation at the bottom of my spine foreboding it.
Although the floor is filled, covered, with creatures, they instantly part at the sight of the enforcers, creating a wide berth and path in the waves of pleasure.
We quickly reach the next floor, descending deeper into the club. Again, the opposite to 'The Inferno', the lower the floors, the darker the pleasure.
I’d only ever been to floor three.
“Why are we here?” I ask again, catching a glimpse of something hanging from a long chain, a body? That is until Julien's wide shoulders block the image once more.
Not one of them turns to look at me.
I stare up at them in frustration, drilling into the back of his head like he can feel my annoyance at their lack of response. When I hear Sai’s small chuckle, my irritation flares.
“You’re blocking me!” I shout, eager to make them hear over the mixture of music and strange sounds.
Again, they ignore me. All facing forward and maintaining the same pace.
My coils curl around me, pulsing out in irritation and latching onto the emotions flooding the room. I shiver at the intensity which comes rushing back, the sensation halting my steps as I bring it into me.
Burning, the type of burn you’d feel if you rubbed salt against raw skin, begins. The sign of the barrier coming closer.
They’ve stopped now, just a few steps before me, the invisible path they’ve created giving us a clear view of each other.
I wince, my spine feeling tender and a sickness building in my gut. My mouth turns dry as my brain begins to remember the sensation which comes with each step.
I try to move again, but the pain intensifies, I grip my stomach, stumbling at the sensation.
An unfamiliar presence steps towards me. “You OK, gorgeou—”
“Fuck off.” Sai’s tone is barely recognisable, it’s all threats and darkness now.
I can instantly feel him beside me, but I can’t open my eyes, the agony only increasing. I also feel this stranger’s intense fear and I cry out in pain.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Sai asks softly, an instant contrast to his previous words. I know his face is close to mine when his fingers skim my cheek. The sensation only amplifies my suffering as I whimper .
“It’s the barrier,” the demon states, somehow his voice remains clear over the hive of noise and I feel his steps which practically vibrate the ground as he comes towards me.
Without any further explanation, I feel his arms wrap around me as he scoops me up, cradling me to his chest.
The second our skin touches, the pain disintegrates, cold sinks into my very bones and ceases the torment. My eyes remain closed, the pleasurable sensation making it hard to even remain present as I push my face further into his chest, eager to feel even less.
“How the fuck will we get her through, if she can’t even be near it?”
“We follow the plan, Sai.”
“And if she dies?”
I sigh, hearing their voices inside my head again soothes a rawness, a wound I wasn’t aware had formed. Unsettlingly, it’s comforting and I sink further into his hold. I can’t even process the meanings of their words as I sway in heavenly nothingness.
“She won’t.”
It’s hard to pinpoint who’s speaking in this state, they’re all deep murmurs which ease the burning, one partially louder than the others, but that’s all.
They continue moving.
Sooner than I wanted, I’m being placed back onto the floor, hands still gripping my waist and keeping me subdued. I keep my eyes tightly closed, relishing in the emptiness for as long as I can.
“Enforcers, we didn’t know you were passing through today?” A startled voice echoes around the room, but I remain absorbed by his touch as I rest against his chest.
“Oh, really? Well, I didn’t realise we had to inform barrier guards of our every move,” Sai replies, his tone drenched with sarcasm and a tinge of annoyance. I feel his arm brush mine as he walks by, the sensation only eases me more.
“Are you implying we need your permission to be here?” Julien adds, his question laced with a hidden threat. One that has the fear in the room suddenly spiking, sending a ripple of terror into me, breaking my peaceful bubble and momentarily making me wince.
I feel a gentle skim along my throat and I know instantly it’s him, easing the pain.
“N-no, no sir, enforcers. I apologise for my impertinence,” the guard blurts, I hear the shuffling of feet and the sound of metal clanging against stone. “Right this way.”
“Look at me,” the demon orders, voice soft but stern, seemingly ignoring the conversation taking place around us. It easily distracts me from the terror which is still oozing out of the guards and into every piece of me.
Slowly, I follow his instruction, opening my eyes and becoming quickly transfixed by his haunting gaze speckled with grey wisps.
“The barrier is just behind you now,” he explains, the words meaning nothing to me in this cloudy state, instead, I watch the soft pieces of inky hair which lay over his brow. “I want you to touch it with your hand.”
My brows furrow ever-so slightly. I think I understand, so I gently nod.
His dark feline eyes assess me, flickering over my face and body, before standing to his full height and slipping one arm away, meaning only one hand remains on my waist to keep me steady and in my haze.
He encourages my steps by cautiously turning me, until I finally face the barrier.
There are three guards, dressed in deep purple uniforms, the typical fashion of the distract guards. All embellished by golden trim and an intricate medallion of a griffon in the centre. Two guards stand either side of the flickering barrier, which is framed by ancient stone walls, the other one is closer to me, his light hair buzzed short, body rigid and eyes warily fixed upon us.
My gaze lands back upon the barrier and my heart begins to race. I can’t feel the pain but my body still prepares for it. The thudding begins, battering against the nothingness he’s created.
I feel him pushing us forward, but my heels dig into the ground, even in this state my body is eager to fight, and my hands race to the one he has gripped to my waist, desperate to rip it away as my fingernails drag against his skin, but we keep moving.
The shimmering wall is completely opaque, masking the district I know is behind, the liquid form is somehow solid as it simmers in a foggy grey. Parts of it crackle as we get closer, until I’m only a few steps away .
“Go on,” he instructs, nodding his head when I stare up at him. A dark gaze revealing nothing, a hard facade now in place.
I look down at my hand, knowing this is what he wants me to do, his calmness dulling the warning signs erupting all over my skin in the form of goosebumps.
I’m millimetres away, the bare skin of my palm hovering just before the source of my fear, when a new voice interrupts and disrupts my calming blockade.
“Wait,” the guard to my left says, and the noise cracks my composure. I can feel the person getting closer and, with each movement, the cold numbing my pain begins to fracture.
“I’ve just checked the system and, erm, no one has been granted entrance today, sir. She can’t go through until she’s been cleared...It’s protocol,” his final words are barely a whisper as all our gazes seek him out in unison.
Recognition floods my mind. I’ve seen this guard before and a fire suddenly flares in my chest.
The fire only blooms when I feel the enforcers’ annoyance and irritation which quickly amplifies. The guard struggles to maintain eye contact and peers away.
“We’re above protocol,” Julien states, his calm voice laced with subtle warning. His eyes fixed upon the speaker.
I continue to stare at the guard, completely dumbfounded and slightly in awe at his stupidity to believe enforcers, especially these enforcers, would care about protocol when they were willing to kill a monarch. But also with terrifying familiarity.
Why do I recognise him? Does he recognise me?
“If you want to stop us, have at it, mate.” Sai’s excited tone cracks the soothing composure again, heat and burning rushing along my back. He shoots me a sudden wink which only burns me more.
“We’re wasting time.” The demon's voice silences the room again.
Then he’s reaching for my hand, the one still hovering, and pushes it against the barrier.
My entire body is engulfed by invisible flames.
They immediately form and the force pushes the demon away, his hand dropping from me, and the agony which follows has the room shaking.
I scream.
I drop to my knees .
The concrete bites into the bare skin but it’s only a small sting in comparison to the real torture grinding my fingers.
My hand is trapped inside the flickering barricade as I desperately pull at my wrist but the action only tightens its vice-like grip.
I scream again.
The sound ripping from my throat and amplified by the emotions I’d previously engulfed. Fear still laces every breath of the guards, giving me an unlimited supply.
I feel the ground below me rumble and my marking erupts like molten lava embedding my skin. When the demon tries to move towards me again, the barrier reacts, sending out another invisible pulse which pushes him even further away.
“Let me in, Jasmine.” The tiniest glimpse of panic laces those words, and it only fuels my terror.
I block out his voice.
All of them.
Now, all I can feel is pain.
The burning misery races through me like liquid lightning. Building and building into a crescendo of white-hot agony bubbling inside my veins.
The invisible flames submerge me, dragging me completely to the ground, my free palm slamming into the floor and barely saving my face from the impact.
My agony forms into a visible shape, erupting from the cracked floor and filling the room in dense, thick waves of black.
This can’t be it.
Not here.
Not now.
Through bleary eyes, I stare up at the hand still trapped in the barrier, feeling my coils as they continue unfolding. They unwind from the thickest, heaviest chain I’d barely touched, ones I’d never allowed to surface.
I feel the transformation before I see it. Inky tendrils leak out from my nail beds, trailing up to the very tips of my fingers, before leaking down and spreading.
“What is this? What the fuck is she!” a guard shouts, his tone full of fear but also denial. Anger. His emotions siphon into me instantly, increasing the speed of the darkness marring my skin. “I’ve seen hundreds of creatures pass through, no one reacts this way! We need to stop her before—”
“Before?” my voice responds, well, an echo of my own.
It cuts through the sounds of shattering rubble and rumbling.
There’s a release.
I inhale .
No longer rejecting the pain but embracing it, moulding it, shaping it around me—into me. I’m flooded by a new urge: not to feel pain, but to cause it.
My hand remains moulded to the barrier as I gradually stand, then turn, locking my gaze upon the guard who dared to speak of me. Whose terror felt familiar, sour, rancid .
My eyes flicker over his other goons, all wide eyes and terror.
Then I unleash.
They drop to the floor in a thud like rotten apples. Muscles contracting, writhing in agony, fingers clawing at their temples as they curl into themselves like burnt spiders.
I amplify the pain, expand it further, feel it flowing through my veins like oxygen, and push it into them.
I’m simply an amplifier now, a tool, and a terrifying sensation begins to fill me as I study their contorted forms: one of pure pleasure.
When trickles of blood begin to seep from their eyes, nostrils and ears, dripping onto the floor in a ruby stream, I falter slightly. I glance down at the black skin now coating my hand with something close to concern.
Finally, I turn towards the enforcers, catching each of their eyes before staying focused upon the demon.
I let the wall drop.
“Aren’t you going to stop me?” I ask, watching the inferior beings below again, their cries blubbering gasps now.
“Why? Kill them, if that’s what you want.” I stare at him, my mouth parting slightly at his words.
I glance at the others, their expressions difficult to read when shrouded by the darkness my power has formed, but their gazes remain intense, focused upon me, only me.
Beneath the darkness of their appearance, the heat blazing in their eyes causes my breaths to halt.
“Do you still think we will intervene?” Julien asks, I seek out his fiery gaze, the bloody depth fuelling me once more. “ Indulge, Little Empath.”
“Take what you want, Red.” Sai’s husky voice drips with a sensual undertone, I latch onto him as his markings pulse. “That’s what we do.”
“It’s your choice.” The demon's coolness wraps around me, coaxing me towards him once more. I could eternally fall into the transfixing abyss his gaze provides. “But make it now. ”
My choice.
When was the last time I was given a choice, not simply told what to do?
No longer trapped by pain, I cautiously retract my hand from the shimmering barrier. Flickers of the liquid eagerly reach out, desperate to latch onto my skin again, but I simply pull away.
I stare at the bodies beneath me once more, so still now, and immediately release my hold on them. The darkness rescinds into me and the three guards remain on the floor.
This was my choice.
“Plan B.”
Before I can respond, or consider what I had done, what I nearly did, I’m back in his arms. The transition from complete agony, overwhelming power, and back to heavenly nothingness is a violent whiplash, making it extremely difficult to form coherent thoughts.
“When we go through, feed your pain to me,” he murmurs, the soft reassurance, accompanied by his soothing touch, causes me to sigh as my eyelids flutter.
“No, look at me.” I wince at his gentle command, wanting to rest in this blanket of cold, yet eager to comply with him. I peer up at him, a night sky with stormy clouds stares back. “Give me your pain, do you understand?”
We maintain our gaze as I nod, gripping the soft t-shirt beneath his hard chest plate as the room sinks into complete darkness.
The temperature of the room drops and the shadows wrap around us in a liquid armour. His dark gaze almost piercing now, being the only light in the room.
When we begin to pass through, the pain cuts into my skin, slicing like whips, and I gasp, sinking into his chest. But I’m eager to follow his words, and I do, I allow the pain to slowly seep out and into him.
There’s barely a change in his gait, but the pain tinges the fluidity of his steps. I feed just enough to make it bearable for us both, refusing to give him the full extent.
Instead, I share the pain, distributing it equally.
The grip around me tightens, a silent indication of his own reaction to the painful burning smouldering between us. The shadows dance and fight to battle it, cooling the raw sting lashing our bodies with each step.
“Nearly there,” he bites out, the most emotion I’ve ever heard from him, and it’s caused by me, by the pain I’m giving him .
I begin to pull away and feel the molten burn bubbling in my chest, cutting into my spine in wicked licks once more.
“No,” his angry order stops me. “Give it to me, give it all to me.”
In this state, he knows I can’t refuse him, and my eyes begin to water at the thought as I do exactly as he says.
It pours out.
One slight stumble, a small grunt, and he pushes through the final layer.